1 Kings 19:20
in 1 Kings 19So Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will follow you.” “Go on back,” Elijah replied, “for what have I done to you?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again; for what have I done to thee?
KJV
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?
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This verse in 1 Kings 19
Commentary
11 notes on this verseAfter receiving the garment from the prophetical hand, at the same time you have received the privilege, when you were transformed from worker into a prophet through the radiance of the Spirit that was glorified. Since you foreknew, O Christ, the inclination to goodness Of …
This site's exposition
plowing with twelve yoke of oxen
on 1 Kings 19:19-21
Twelve yoke of oxen sets the same number before the reader that stood in Elijah's own altar of twelve stones on Carmel, all Israel counted out again in Elisha's field. The mantle Elijah wrapped around his own face at Horeb is now cast on a successor without a word of instruction, and Elisha's one request, to kiss his father and mother, is granted where Elijah's own request to die was not. He answers the call by slaughtering the ox he plowed with and burning the plow's own wood to boil it, a farewell feast that leaves nothing of the old life to return to.
This site's exposition
Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah
Adam Clarke reads the reply of Elijah as a release: the call came from God, and Elisha answers to God for it. Matthew Henry sees an unseen hand moving Elisha to leave his farm, as Psalm 110:3 speaks of a people willing on the day of battle. Elisha asks only to say goodbye.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"So he set out from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He passed by him and threw his mantle over him." With his mantle Elijah took Elisha from farming to prophesying. From the symbolic point of view, Elisha represents the type of the apostles …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
An invisible hand touched his heart, and unaccountably inclined him by a secret power, without any external persuasions, to quit his husbandry and give himself to the ministry. It is in a day of power that Christ's subjects are made willing ( Ps. cx. 3 ), nor would any come to Christ unless they were thus drawn.
That queen-consort, it seems, was in effect queen-regent, as she was afterwards when she was queen-dowager, an imperious woman that managed king and kingdom and did what she would. Ahab's conscience would not let him persecute Elijah (some remains he had in him of the blood and spirit of an Israelite, which tied his hands), but he told Jezebel all that Elijah had done (
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He ran - Being powerfully moved by God's spirit to follow Elijah, and wholly give up himself to his function. Let me kiss - That is, bid them farewell.
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Let me - kiss my father and my mother - Elisha fully understood that he was called by this ceremony to the prophetic office: and it is evident that he conferred not with flesh and blood, but resolved, immediately resolved, to obey; only he wished to bid farewell to his relatives. See below. What have I done to thee? - Thy call is not from me, but from God: to him, not to me, art thou accountable for thy use or abuse of it.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
what have I done to thee?--that is, Go, but keep in mind the solemn ceremony I have just performed on thee. It is not I, but God, who calls thee. Do not allow any earthly affection to detain you from obeying His call.
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A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father ... - Not an unnatural request before following his new spiritual father. Elijah sees in his address a divided heart, and will not give the permission or accept the service thus tendered. Hence, his cold reply. See Luk 9:61-62. Go back again ... - i. e., “Go, return to thy plowing ... why shouldest thou quit it? Why take leave of thy friends and come with me? What have I done to thee to require such a sacrifice? for as a sacrifice thou evidently regardest it. Truly I have done nothing to thee. Thou canst remain as thou art.”
The words behind it
21 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּעֲזֹ֣ב | vaiyaazo | and he left | H5800 → | 215 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַבָּקָ֗ר | habakar | the ox[en] | H1241 → | 183 times |
| וַיָּ֙רָץ֙ | vaiyarotz | and he ran | H7323 → | 103 times |
| אַחֲרֵ֣י | ʾacharei | after | H310 → | 715 times |
| אֵֽלִיָּ֔הוּ | ʾeliyahu | Elijah | H452 → | 71 times |
| וַיֹּ֗אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֶשְּׁקָה־ | ʾeshekah- | I want to kiss | H5401 → | |
| נָּא֙ | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| לְאָבִ֣י | leavi | <to> father my | H1 → | 1212 times |
| וּלְאִמִּ֔י | uleimi | and <to> mother my | H517 → | 220 times |
| וְאֵלְכָ֖ה | veelekhah | and I will go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| אַחֲרֶ֑יךָ | ʾachareikha | after you | H310 → | 715 times |
| וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לוֹ֙ | lo | to him | ||
| לֵ֣ךְ | lekh | go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| שׁ֔וּב | shuv | turn back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מֶה־ | meh- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| עָשִׂ֖יתִי | ʾasiti | have I done | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| לָֽךְ׃ | lakh | to you |
וַיַּעֲזֹ֣בand he left
vaiyaazoH5800 →215 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַבָּקָ֗רthe ox[en]
habakarH1241 →183 times
וַיָּ֙רָץ֙and he ran
vaiyarotzH7323 →103 times
אַחֲרֵ֣יafter
ʾachareiH310 →715 times
אֵֽלִיָּ֔הוּElijah
ʾeliyahuH452 →71 times
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אֶשְּׁקָה־I want to kiss
ʾeshekah-H5401 →
נָּא֙please
na'H4994 →404 times
לְאָבִ֣י<to> father my
leaviH1 →1212 times
וּלְאִמִּ֔יand <to> mother my
uleimiH517 →220 times
וְאֵלְכָ֖הand I will go
veelekhahH1980 →1546 times
אַחֲרֶ֑יךָafter you
ʾachareikhaH310 →715 times
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
לוֹ֙to him
lo
לֵ֣ךְgo
lekhH1980 →1546 times
שׁ֔וּבturn back
shuvH7725 →1056 times
כִּ֥יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
מֶה־what?
meh-H4100 →752 times
עָשִׂ֖יתִיhave I done
ʾasitiH6213 →2628 times
לָֽךְ׃to you
lakh
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 9:9As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him.
it leads to
- Luke 5:27–38
After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him,
- Mark 2:14–22
As He was walking along, He saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Levi got up and followed Him.
- 1 Kings 19:19–21
So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.
- Luke 19:2–10
And there was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, who was very wealthy.
- Mark 3:18
Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot,
- Luke 5:27–38
Through
Matthew 4:20And at once they left their nets and followed Him.
it leads to
- Mark 10:28–31
Peter began to say to Him, “Look, we have left everything and followed You.”
- Matthew 19:27
“Look,” Peter replied, “we have left everything to follow You. What then will there be for us?”
- Mark 10:28–31
Through
Acts 20:37They all wept openly as they embraced Paul and kissed him.
it leads to
- 2 Timothy 1:4
Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.
- 2 Timothy 1:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
About 1 Kings
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonDivided kingdomElijahThe Tishbite who shut heaven for three years and a half, called down fire on Carmel, heard the still small voice at Horeb, and wen…
- PersonDivided kingdomElishaElijah's successor with the firstborn's double portion; the prophet of the healed spring, the widow's oil, the Shunammite's son, N…
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 19:19; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John of Cressy, CANON 6, ON ELISHA THE PROPHET, ODE 1; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.